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How did the Welsh teenager get so obese?

You may have read the story about the Welsh teenage girl, only 19, who had to be rescued from her home by a demolition crew. At the time she weighed in at about 400kg/882lb/63 stone which is heavier than a Welsh pony.

This is a tragedy. How is it possible that this young girl, with her whole life ahead of her, was not only unable to leave her house, but also now is fighting for her life, having been diagnosed with respiratory failure, spinal problems, diabetes and kidney disease. How did this happen?

It seems that Georgia lived on 2 portions of fish and chips or sandwiches made from 6 slices of bread and potato crisps for lunch. During the afternoon she snacked on 2 Snickers Bars at a time, and after eating a main meal (I have no idea what this was) she would eat biscuits, crisps and chocolates due to "boredom".

Three years ago, Georgia had reached a weight of 33stone/209kg/462lb, so she was sent to Wellspring Academy in the US where she lost 14 stone. At the time she had been living on biscuits, cheese and chocolate, and the weight loss was due to the diet of lean buffalo meat and salads. It was after her return from the States that her weight went out of control.

So back to the question, how could this happen? People will say, obviously if you eat that junk you will get fat. Others will say she must have some sort of disease. Others will say she has no willpower. But, there is certainly a lot of compassion out there for her, as many people suffer from a similar urge to eat, and eat, and eat. So what it is that creates this food addiction?

I can tell you:
1. Candida. When you eat sugar you feed the fungus Candida (this lives naturally in the body) which then literally takes over the body, demanding more and more sugar. Which makes more and more Candida.
2. When you eat fat and carbohydrate (starch) together, you are providing the body with two sources of energy. Fat takes longer to digest so is introduced to the bloodstream more slowly, but carbohydrate is pretty instant.Your body will use the carbs for energy at the time, and the fat will, as it's not required, turn into body fat.
3. When you go on a calorie restricted diet 2 things happen. Your body goes into starvation mode which means that it slows down the metabolism, gets used to using less energy, as all it's trying to do is survive what it thinks is possible death from starvation. Just think of the word 'diet'. Die it. Die. Also your mind feels guilty every time you eat something "you shouldn't" and this creates defensive eating patterns, where you think that "Oh what the hell, I'm fat anyway so I might as well" or "It's only one, surely that won't make a difference".
4. Cravings. When you restrict your body to certain ingredients, by having the same sorts of meals over and over, you can develop a food intolerance. This means that the food (most commonly wheat, dairy, corn, soy, peanuts, eggs and sugar) makes you feel really good when you eat it, but within 48 hours your body reacts badly to it (upset stomach, tiredness, aching muscles) causing a craving for the food again just to get that feeling of well-being for a while.
5. Hypoglycaemia. Low blood sugar. When you eat carbohydrate such as an apple or whole grains, the pancreas produces insulin as soon as it detects the sugar in the bloodstream, to try to keep a sugar balance (if you have too much sugar in your blood you can die). If you eat processed carbohydrates (sugar, cookies etc) your pancreas gets a sudden shock at the sheer amount of sugar suddenly in the bloodstream that it produces masses of insulin. Actually too much, which creates low blood sugar and you feel dizzy and nauseous and guess what you do - eat more sugar to feel better. If you continue to do this the pancreas eventually becomes overtaxed and simply gives up. It becomes unable to produce insulin when you eat sugar, and you then have diabetes. Which can kill you.

So this is what happened to that poor teenager. She created food cravings by eating those poor quality unnatural foods to start with, and then after going on Die-it her metabolism became so slow she didn't stand a chance.

What's the solution? Meat and three veg, that's what Grandma used to say. "If you want to stay nice and slim, cut out bread and potatoes". And of course, in those days, people didn't have the money to buy sweets, chocolates and sodas like they do now, so bread and potatoes were the enemy.

Georgia, and other people who are in or can see themselves heading that way, can fix the problem very quickly. Eat meat, fish or eggs cooked with fat as you like. Put the portion on a plate and match it with 3 times as much green vegetables. Green. Not red or orange. Eat it all. Do this 3 times a day. Do not snack in-between. You won't need to as if you've eaten as much as you want of the meal you've chosen, you won't be hungry in-between. You will lose weight, kill cravings and feel fantastic.

There you have it. Georgia need not have suffered. Any neither should you.